Saliva siphon



,Oct. 12, 1943. R. P. ELLIOTT 2,331,463

SALIVA SIPHON Filed Feb. 3, 1941 Patented Oct. 12, 1943 UNITED STATES PAT ENT/OFFICE SALIVAgSIPHON Bicha rd P. Elliott,Be t's-n,i le s. v I H Application February a, 1941, sardine-311139 r claim. 01. s a-13st] My invention relates to saliva siphons designed to be used by dentists to extract saliva from the mouth of a patient, thus to maintain the teeth in a dry condition while the dentist is operating upon them, and it has for a particular purpose to provide such a siphon which can bemade at such a lowsprice that the dentist can afiord to use it but once.

Siphons in common use are made of. metal or glass eachwith a straight portion at the outlet:

end, the inlet end being curved U shaped and 5 provided with inlet holes. Siphons of each of these types are designed to be used in themouths of different patients and they; are supposed to be sterilized after each use by boiling. harbor germs and bacteria of some of the most infectious diseases and the types of sterilization in common use are not adapted to destroy bacteria Mouths inserted in 1711671181131, suction hose. -,Theinlet end and germs of the most virulent types. Metal and 4 glass siphons are too expensive to be limited to a single use.

Metal and glass siphonswhen in operation are heavy and feel cold to the mouth and they are so formed that they suck in the soft tissues of the mouth, thus stoppingthe flow of saliva and causing a stinging sensation, all of these conditions causing the patient discomfort, and while various designs of the inlet ends have been attempted in an effortto prevent the soft tissues of the mouth from being sucked into the inlet holes, so far as I am aware none of these has satisfactorilyattained the desired result.

Another object of this invention, therefore, is to produce a siphon for the extraction of saliva from the mouths of patients during dental operations which is produced aseptically clean and is designed to be used but once and to so package the siphons that they will remain aseptic until used.

Another object of the invention is to construct the inlet end of the siphon in such form that the soft tissues of the mouth cannot be sucked into the inlet openings to cause irritation and closing of the openings.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accome panying drawing in which Figure 5 is a view similar to a-porti'on of Figure 1, but showing amodificatiom,

- Referring to the drawing, the siphon comprises a straight portion I merging intofa curved substantially U shaped portion 2 adapted; to rest upon the lower lip and terminating in an inlet end portion 3 which extends into the mouth until the rounded closed end drests upon the floor of the mouth where the saliva collects. The oppositerend .5 of thesiphon is ope -being provided withga restricted outlet opening, '6; This end 5 is of the siphon, which is somewhat enlarged, is shown as provided with a pair of spaced cylindricalprotuberances .1 with their :major axes in parallelrelationship on -opposite sides; and adjacent thereto on each side thereis positioned an inlet opening 8. The projections 1 are spaced apart, preferably a distance slightly greater than thediameter of the inlet opening 8, as shown best in Figure 4 and project abruptly from the tube and with the tube present a contour which cannot be followed sufifi-ciently closely by the mouth tissues to permit these tissues to close off the inlet openings. stantially in line with the two projections l, or as shown in Figure 5, it may be offsettherefrom preferably toward the closed rounded end 4 of the siphon, in wihch case it opens closer to the floor Figure 1 is a side view of my improved siphon- Figure 2 is a front view showing the location of projections formed on the inlet end of the siphon. r

Figure 3 is a View of the siphon looking in the direction of the arrow at. V

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 1.

to the cavities at a pressure of approximately 25- of the mouth than where it is positioned in line with the projections I, as shown in Figure 1.

The, siphon is molded from sheets of white cellulose acetate by the process of blow-molding. "The molds formolding the siphons are made in two parts, the mating faces having cavities formed therein each equal in depth to one-half the diameter of the siphon, When the mating faces of the molds are placed together, the cavities are thus the exact shape and size of the siphon. The process of making the siphons consists in soaking thin sheets of cellulose acetate in a strong solution of alcohol for, say, 24 hours after which two of the sheets while wet are placed between the molds with their edges registering with the edges of the molds. The molds are then placed in a press which presses the parts of the mold together to form an air tight I closure between the sheets at the edges of the I cavities. The molds thus pressed together are then heated to a temperature sufficient to sterilize the sheets and air is then introduced between the sheets through passages in the molds leading pounds to the-square inch. The heat and the moisture from the soaking renders the sheets Each opening 8 may be located sub-v plastic and the air pressure forces them into the cavities to exactly conform to the shape of the cavities. When the siphons have thus been molded to shape, cold sterile water is forced into the siphons to cool and harden them so that they will maintain their molded shape. The pressure of the molds around the edges of the cavities while the sheets are in a plastic condition serves to weld the sheets together and to cut them off from the remainder of the sheets,- thus joining the parts in the cavities at their edges into an integral structure. The siphons are then removed from the molds and any fins remaining at the juncture of the molds are removed and the inlet openings 8 are formed therein The outlet openings 6 are formed in the molding process and lead the air which is used to mold the sheets to their desired contours into the siphons. The resultant siphon is of light weight, does not feel cold in the mouth and can be made at such a low price that the dentist can miford to use each but once. This eliminates the possibility of infectious bacteria being carried from the mouth of one patient to the mouth of another and the material itself is aseptic and is maintained in that condition while being molded and finished. It may be sealed up in a; germproof envelope to maintain it in such aseptic condition until used.

The projections I hold the soft tissues of the mouth away from the inlet opening I suflieiently to prevent their being sucked into the opening during use, sothat the siphon remains open while it is being used and no discomfort from the suction is caused the patient." The material being white and clean presents an appearance of cleanliness and sanitation which is pleasing to the patient.

Considerable variation may be made in placing the inlet holes 8 with reference to the pairs of projections 1 so long as these inlet holes are sufiiciently close to these projections so that the projections serve their desired purpose of preventing the holes 8 from being unduly obstructed during use.

From the foregoing description of certain embodiments of this invention it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made without departing. from the spirit or scope of this invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A saliva siphon designed for a single use molded into a completely unitary structure from inherently aseptic sheet cellulose and having a straight tubular portion at its outlet end, and a U-shaped tubular portion extending from said straight tubular portion, said U-shaped portion terminating in a closed enlarged head, the outer end thereof being rounded for direct contact with the floor of the mouth, said enlarged head being formed with inlet openings in the opposite sides thereof, and a pair of laterally projecting cylindrical protuberances formed on each side of the head and arranged on opposite sides of the respective inlet openings and with their major axesin parallel relationship, and extending sufficiently outwardly from the sides of the head to prevent the sucking in of the mouth tissues and the closing or said inlet openings.

RICHARD P'. ELLIOTT. 

